There has always been a need for providing safety guard rails prior to permanent railings being installed on decks, balconies, and on elevated floors during the construction of residential and commercial buildings and especially prior to the construction of exterior walls. The Occupational Hazards Safety Act(OSHA) has written specifications concerning the performance of temporary guardrails and handrails.
In Particular OSHA Standards 1926.1052 Stairways (c) (8) requires "Stair rail systems and handrails shall be so surfaced as to prevent injury to employees from punctures or lacerations, and to prevent snagging of clothing."
Aside from nailing up two-by-fours which takes considerable labor time, expense, and materials to assemble and are limited to only a single site application, various patents have been proposed to meet OSHA standards and would be reusable at different future sites.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,074 to Purvis et al. and its' continuation-in-part U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,685 to Purvis et al. each describes a "Temporary Guard Rail System(s)" that attempts to meet OSHA specifications. However, the Purvis patents fails to meet these OSHA specifications. Specifically FIGS. 1-9 of the '074 patent and FIGS. 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,13,14,15,16, and 17 of the '685 patent clearly show exposed threaded bolts with large wing nuts, sharp edged brackets and adapters. The exposed thread(s) constitute a possible laceration threat and the combination of exposed bolt(s) and wing nut(s) constitutes a possible clothing snag hazard.
Furthermore, both the Purvis et al. '074 patent and the Purvis et al. '685 patent describe and show enlarged examples of the necessary adapters, brackets, and related components that must be used for both a balcony guardrail system and a stair case rail system. These adapters, brackets, and related components include sharp edged components such as metal type plates, threaded bolts, nuts, hexagonal nuts, wingnuts and the like, require a complex assembly that also presents a potential laceration and snag hazard during their construction.
Additionally, the Purvis et al. '685 patent in FIG. 16 uses a vertically extendible post having additional interior components that can result in excessive "play" in the extension portion of the post. The extension pipe along with other components results in a substantial addition of weight that must be transported and then hand carried to the installation location. Thus, the extra weight and assembly thereof causes extra labor costs to the user.
Furthermore, the Purvis et al. '685 patent employs the use of a leverage strap that connects the post/stanchion to the bottom plate, where significant space exists between the bottom plate and the bottom of the post/stanchion, and would constitute a trip hazard after installation to person(s) walking by the post/stanchion.
Both the Purvis et al. '074 patent and the '685 patent describes systems having many individual components that requires continuous maintenance. The exposed threads of the bolts that are welded or attached to the rail support collars, the various brackets, and at the top of each stanchion are often crushed and damaged and bent during handling, storage, and transport.
Purvis et al. '685 in FIG. 16 and Purvis et al. '074 in FIGS. 1-2 shows some rotatable collars on the guardrail posts. However, both the Purvis et al. patents require that the collars use outwardly projecting studs for mounting components thereto. Additionally, both Purvis et al. patents require that their posts use upwardly projecting vertical mounting studs for connecting top rails to the posts. Furthermore, both Purvis et al. patents require additional brackets for connecting the rails in stair applications. As previously mentioned outwardly projecting studs and additional brackets present serious problems.
Thus, the Purvis et al. '074 and '685 patents describe systems having multiple design flaws which would constitute significant problems in providing an OSHA compliant temporary guardrail system to be used in the construction industry.
Additionally, not all construction sites require the use of expensive highly adjustable safety guardrails. Commercial sites often require long straight runs of guardrails. Additionally, the commercial use of guardrails can be long term which can result in expensive versatile equipment being tied up for long periods. There is therefore a need for a simple but OSHA compliant guardrail system that can be used for these long straight runs, but can also be interconnected with the more versatile adjustable guard rail systems when the commercial site requires the ability of said flexible equipment.
Others have attempted to build guard rails but also fail to similarly meet the OSHA standards previously described. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,910,135 to Moore; 5,314,167 to Holloman; 3,351,311 to Melfi; 4,830,341 to Arteau, et al.; 3,662,993 to Lionetto; 5,182,889 to Johnson; 3,733,054 to Storch; 3,863,900 to Dagiel, et al.; 4,015,827 to Brand; RE20,653 to Lamb; and 5,913,508 to Eades.